The Laws of Thought: The Quest for a Mathematical Theory of the Mind

From the co-author of Algorithms to Live By, an exploration of the quest to use mathematics to describe the ways we think, from its origins three hundred years ago to the ideas behind modern AI systems and the ways in which they still differ from human minds.

Everyone has a basic understanding of how the physical world works. We learn about physics and chemistry in school, letting us explain the world around us in terms of concepts like force, acceleration, and gravity-the Laws of Nature. But we don't have the same fluency with concepts needed to understand the world inside us-the Laws of Thought. While the story of how mathematics has been used to reveal the mysteries of the universe is familiar to anybody who has taken even a casual interest in science, the story of how it has been used to study the mind is not.

There is no one better to tell that story than Tom Griffiths, the head of Princeton's AI Lab and renowned expert in the field of cognitive science. In this groundbreaking book, he explains the three major approaches to formalizing thought-rules and symbols, neural networks, and probability and statistics-introducing each idea through the story of the people behind it.

In the 21st century, knowing the Laws of Thought is just as important to scientific literacy as knowing the Laws of Nature. Artificial intelligence systems demonstrate on a daily basis that aspects of thought and language can be emulated by machines, pushing us to reconsider how we think about our minds. Understanding human minds and their potential to be automated becomes critical as we plan our careers and think about the world our children will occupy. As informed conversations about thought, language, and learning become ever more pressing, The Laws of Thought is an essential read on the future of technology.